I was first introduced to Bushwick when I volunteered as an income tax preparer for New York Cares at 315 Grove St., a five-minute walk from the Wyckoff-Myrtle Avenues Station. My clients were mostly nearby residents, with the exception of one from Queens. I had always been confused why I always had to input those who lived in Brooklyn as living in Kings County, while the one in Queens was simply in Queens County.

It was only recently that I found answers to all of my questions in an article by Neil Demause. He starts off by comparing one Bushwick resident who has been in the neighborhood for forty years and the new, younger people moving into the luxury condo down the street, advertised (or mocked, Demause isn’t quite sure) by a ridiculous music video by someone named Daphne B.

To provide some background information, Demause explains that Brooklyn and Queens are part of Long Island and that they evolved when the British Crown “established Queens and Kings Counties as separate bureaucratic jurisdictions.” Bushwick’s western border used to be the East River, housing the community called Bushwick Shore until it seceded from Bushwick and renamed itself Williamsburgh in 1840. Fifteen years later, the “h” was dropped, and it, along with Bushwick, were annexed by Brooklyn.

The article goes on to describe the transition in Williamsburg’s demographics – from small apartment buildings filled with German and Jewish residents to unused, unsightly factories and warehouses that would house artists and musicians 80 years later. However, in the midst of this shift, there was a melting pot of Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Italians, and Hasidic Jews, all of whom were joined by those abandoning the Lower East Side for “dirt-cheap rents and the ability to blast music at all hours.”

In response to the high demands of an emerging hip scene, landlords began to raise rents. By the 2000s, realtors began to create listings further and further east until they were well into Bushwick, nicknaming the area “East Williamsburg.” Old buildings were torn down to create newer facilities like 358 Grove St., which incidentally, I never saw in all the Sundays I went to my volunteer site, but is there nonetheless.

147 Stanhope St.

Art and real estate also seem to birth new buildings like 147 Stanhope St. – described as a “fun hip home” or the House of Words at 30 Belvidere St. where 24 local artists showcase their work in seven galleries located within the rooms of a “$6,000 penthouse, two $5,000 duplexes, and a $3,000 one-bedroom currently for rent. The building is said to “harmoniously [blend] Bushwick’s factory style with Manhattan’s industrial swank” and features a rooftop with a view of the Empire State Building, housing parties every Thursday until the end of the exhibition on May 10th.

While reading all about these new changes to the community, I cannot help but think about my clients who are mostly from low-income backgrounds. Because I was their income tax preparer, I was well aware of exactly how much they made, and how much they had to allocate those earnings to rent each month. One client even told me that she would not be surprised if she became homeless because prices were high, and as much as I tried to comfort her, I knew she had little hope of being in a better position.

Efforts have been made to reduce the effects of gentrification; groups like the North West Bushwick Community have shared an online tool that depicts urban planning and housing data so that residents and activists may join forces. Even so, their efforts may be futile; in 2005, Williamsburg was rezoned to protect the neighborhood from developers who were trying to create as tall buildings as possible so that they could maximize their revenue. In response, the developers moved very quickly to beat the old rules and take advantage of the new ones before the new zoning would be enforced.

For example, the Greenpoint-Williamsburg Additional Zoning Text Amendments, dated October 28th, 2005, especially state that “no portion of the low income housing required under [Section 93-90(d)] shall qualify to… increase the maximum height of a building or the height above which the gross area per residential story of a building is limited pursuant to the provisions of Section 62-354 (Special height and setback regulations)…”

144 N 8th St., marked by the tiny red star – clearly inside the borders of the anti-harassment area (please excuse the poor quality picture, it was the best I could obtain)

The “Finger Building” – nicknamed by disapproving neighbors – at 144 N 8th St. “got in under the gun to rise 200 feet tall” – even though it is clearly inside the Greenpoint-Williamsburg harassment area.  The end-result: apartments listed between $640,000 for one bedroom to about $2 million for three.

144 N 8th St.

It was the shady businesspeople offering higher priced amenities that drove people out of Williamsburg and into Bushwick. I suppose one could even say that in protecting itself, Williamsburg brought trouble to its neighbor – clearly an unintentional move, but one that was damaging enough nonetheless.

Even with all of this in mind, I hope that with this tool, residents who were previously unaware that their landlords were being shady can fight displacement and perhaps halt gentrification – at least temporarily, and perhaps a long-term solution will be found in the near future.

By: Ellis Hamabuchi